


Your Eyes Are Stars

by PhaeGay (2lulah)



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alien Invasion, Aliens, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, F/F, F/M, Gen, Government Conspiracy, M/M, Multi, Other, Resurrection, Science Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, back from the dead, intergalactic relationships, possible smut in future?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-31
Updated: 2015-10-29
Packaged: 2018-03-20 13:12:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3651627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/2lulah/pseuds/PhaeGay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Energy doesn't go away. It simply takes another form, and continues its way into the rest of the universal cycle. He has stopped it, for himself, however. Well, for you. Your adventure with him isn't finished. It was cut short; you were cheated out of it, correct?” Jean nodded as he felt tears began to well in his eyes. “You’re not done yet. Neither is he. So much so that this irrefutable power has nixed the cycle of your world, and that’s exactly the sort of power we need. We need this love, this powerful strength and energy you both share, to help us with our mission."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Forever

The span of a human life is different for each individual. Many people recognize this as they live by the saying "live life as if it were your last day on Earth." Or in less beautiful terms "#YOLO"  
But say you truly did-- Say you experienced every day to the fullest it could ever possibly be. Would you be satisfied? Would it be enough? Would you truly be happy?  
Would you risk things that matter most to you? Or would you hold them more dear to your heart?

Some people say life is about the connections you make with others. The friendships, love, and everything in between can easily be the most important thing for some people--  
But truly, it isn't only that either.  
Would you sacrifice what, or who you love? Would you sacrifice yourself for your love? 

Life is a complex idea and is also a process. Every day is different, even if you feel you're in a rut, each and every second is different in some way, shape, or form. If you begin to look for the differences in every day, you may grow to love life a bit better. If you let yourself fall into the pit of despair that is the tediousness of every day, you may miss the important things in life. Every day is about new experiences, and new stories beginning, and ending. 

This story starts with an end-- An end that isn't as definite as one might think.

 

Marco Bodt was 17 years old, 6 months, 3 days, 2 hours, and 16 minutes old when he died.  
Jean Kirschstein will be 89 years, 7 months, 12 days, and 6 hours old when he dies.  
And yet, Jean will never grow to love anyone else. Or at least, never like he loved Marco. 

Marco was Senior Class President at Trost High School. He was a member of the chess club, a devoted volunteer at the soup kitchen, and would be voted "Sweetest" in their class yearbook. He was a pure soul with nothing but good intentions; unless it came to his boyfriend, Jean. It was known Marco became devious when he was around his grungy punk-boyfriend. Harmless prank ideas that caused no harm always were ricocheting off of Marco's brain when he hung around Jean. And in return, Jean became loving, and sweet-- sort of a "loyal puppy," when it came to Marco. Jean fell hard and fast for the prep, and Marco was in love with Jean from the beginning. 

They knew they were meant to be. "Forever and Always" their clichéd, coined phrase could always be heard in the hardest of times between the two.  
Yet, forever for Marco Bodt was not as long as Jean Kirschstein expected. 

Marco Bodt died in a car accident. 6 months before graduation, Marco was t-boned by a 6 wheeler, and died instantly.  
So close to graduation, and so close to beginning starting his life, not very many people were able to cope--

Understandably, Jean Kirschstein suffered the worst.

***

Jean had to be dreaming. There was just no way this was real. His boyfriend had been dead for 3 months. 3 of the worst months of Jean's life, one might add. So seeing the love of his life's face, though slightly transparent, and luminescent, had to be a clue to the fact that Jean was either crazy, or he was dreaming. The latter of the two was more likely the case, but he didn't hold the first one past himself. 

"Jean, Jean!!! Please wake up! I'm here. I'm right here. Baby, I'm right here." His voice was soft and fragile around the edges with excitement. "You need to wake up. I'm going to be by your side again. I'm not leaving your side ever again, Jean-bo. I love you. I love you so much. Are you awake? I want you to know I'll be with you again. I'll be in your arms again. I'll get to kiss you, and hold you." 

Even though Marco was so clearly in front of him, Jean didn't want to see it. He just wanted to wake up from this cruel dream. 

"Jeaaaaaan, I know you can see me, and hear me. I know you're scared and upset...Honey, baby, I'm here. I'll be with you soon. I know you're upset, but I love you. I'll always love you. Forever and always, right?" and with the last whispered phrase, the premonition faded into blackness.

The room was cold, and Jean was sure Marco-- or whatever that was, was gone. He chewed on his lip, and felt the tears begin to trickle from his eyes down his cheeks. Marco was gone. Marco, the love of his life, had disappeared as quickly as he appeared in Jean's life.  
"Forever and always, Marco." 

***

Mid-May air was always the thickest to Jean. It never felt humid, nor was it very hot, but he always felt heavy during May. 

Maybe this year more than most, but nonetheless, Jean felt May was not the month for him. 

Tonight however, was the Big Game. Trost's Basketball team, "The Titans" were in for their last game of the season, and everyone was anxious. Well... everyone except Jean. Picking the lock to the rest of the hallways, Jean snuck down the walkways until he found what he was looking for.

Jean was currently curling up by Marco's locker, number 624. After Marco's death, they memorialized it, putting pictures, flowers, and hung his letterman's jacket there as a reminder to everyone the close friend they all lost. Jean could be found currently, hugging said jacket, and his face buried into the collar. It still smelled like him. But it wasn't enough. 

Due to his nightmare from the night before, and almost every night previous from 3 months after Marco's death, Jean knew he needed some form of comfort. Feeling the material of Marco's jacket against his skin definitely helped Jean cope. 

Jean then could feel his skin burn as he grew angry at himself once again. Jean wasn't very far in his stages of mourning. Bargaining and guilt seemed to be where he was stuck, and it was understandable why it was the case.  
"If only I had been with him. If I had decided to go with him rather than take the motorbike...." He was whispering out loud to himself as he squeezed the jacket in closer, his body wracking as sobs broke through him. Jean knew he shouldn't be here. He knew he should be somewhere else, at home, not socializing, just, curled up in bed with one of Marco's old hoodies...but they didn't smell like him anymore. Jean didn't want to forget.

"Kirschstein, you're not supposed to be here. Why aren't you at the game? This area is supposed to be closed off. How did you even get in here?" The voice was calm, stoic and deep, yet there was definitely a flicker concern in his voice. The voice startled Jean, causing him to jump and smack his head against the locker. "Shit," he murmured. Principal Smith was not an easy one to deal with. He was a hard ass, and everyone knew that. Yet, he knew Jean was curled up by his dead boyfriend's locker. Smith didn't really get love. He was far too involved with the work to even think about a relationship. 

"Sorry sir," Jean's voice crackled as he wiped his eyes on his shirt sleeve partially from the pain from his head, and the throbbing in his heart. 

Erwin Smith may not have understood exactly how Jean was feeling, he did however, understand there was still things Jean needed to settle. "...Ten minutes. I'll give you ten minutes, but then you better be in the gym-- or else."

"Thank you, sir." 

Smith turned to begin walking away before turning back. "You didn't answer my question. How did you get in here?" 

"Um... Do you really want to know?" 

"If I didn't, I wouldn't have asked." 

"...Mr. Smith, do I really--"

He lifted his hand to cut him off. "No, it's fine. Just. Get to the game." 

After a while to himself, Jean hung Marco's jacket back into his locker, and smiled solemnly to himself as he brushed his thumb over the picture Marco and him took on their year-anniversary. 3 1/2 years may not be long in the grand scheme of things, but to Jean, it was an entire lifetime. 

"Jean! O-Oh sorry, Jean you should get going the game is supposed to start! You really don't need to get caught by Mr. Ackerman again, do you?" A set of blue eyes was peaking around the corner of the wall, with puffy blonde hair falling down sideways as he tilted his head. His eyes were wide and it was easy to see Armin was fidgeting with something in his pocket. 

"It's okay, Armin, Mr. Smith already caught me." 

"Mr. Smith is a lot easier to deal with than Mr. Ackerman. But we should get going. Right now. Jean we really need to go!!" 

"I'm coming, I'm coming! Sheesh. How the hell did you get in here?" Jean coughed into his elbow before shivering. "Damn I must be coming down with something," he mumbled to himself as he trotted after his friend. Armin ran through the doors and left Jean behind them, almost leaving them to smack Jean in the face.  
"Jean... Jean" the low, familiar voice made him jump out of his skin. He immediately turned to look around him, his eyes darting around nervously. ''Okay, Jean, you're definitely crazy,'' He thought. He pushed through the doors slowly and slinked up to a free seat. 

It wasn't the most interesting of games. Trost had an opponent they beat every game, and so every move was predictable. People still cheered, but it wasn't as special as they all hoped it would be for their senior year, 'last game ever.' 

Jean was definitely not interested. Yet he was sat by his collection of friends, Armin, Mikasa, and Eren (if you could even call Eren that. Their relationship was more like "not-so-friendly acquaintances"). Ymir and Christa, clad in strictly black, as normal, were laying down on the bench in front of the four. "Yo, Jean, where were you?" Ymir had blurted out before a roar from the crowd had erupted in excitement.  
"Studying."  
"Hah. Okay. Sure."  
"Ymir knock it off. Obviously he doesn't want to talk about it." Sometimes it shocked Jean how blunt Christa could be. Growing up as next door neighbors, the change in her from the pristine angel to the #1 Goth in school came as a bit of a shock to everyone. Nobody seemed to mind all that much though, minus the fact that she sometimes came off a bit rude, but at least she was honest.  
"Wow no need to get your panties in a twist."  
As the couple began to bicker, Jean turned his attention back to the game. Then the chorus of girls cheering had caught his attention, and his eyes flicked over to the pyramid of girls. He quickly saw Sasha, waved, and smiled. Sasha (aside from Marco) was definitely Jean's best friend. The quirky, food-loving cheerleader, dating the kicker on the football team, had somehow befriended the prankster-punk. No one was really sure how it happened, but yet, here they were. After Marco had died, Sasha had a temporary leave from the cheer squad. For a full two months Sasha never left Jean's side. Jean knew he could never repay her, but she always said, "You're my best friend, the only thing you ever owe me are the fries you keep stealing from my lunch" and as much as it always made him laugh, he knew he owed Sasha a lot more than an order of super-sized French fries. 

Jean could feel the stands begin rumble as the audience began to follow the cheer. The thundering grew louder with stomp clap stomp clap…  
"We got spirit, yes we do! We got spirit, how ‘bout you? We got what?" Pop hip right, "What?" Pop hip left. "WHAT? WHAT!?" Forward, back, "A whatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhat we got spirit!" And around and around their hips went, bodies bouncing as they enunciated each word. Jean rolled his eyes.  
Even Sasha's enthusiasm when they repeated the cheer for a second, third, and fourth time diminished, along with everyone else's interest. 

The game was barely at half-time, and everyone seemed completely ready to bolt out of there. The party that was supposed to go down at Basketball Team Captain Wagner's house was far more exciting than the game itself. Even the players seemed bored of it, at this point, and with a score of 48 to 4, it seemed like maybe Mercy Rule could be put into play. 

Jean propped himself up against Armin, leaning his back against Armin's shoulder. Jean pulled down his shades over his eyes and said to Armin after the horn blared for half-time, "Wake me when it's over." 

It hadn't even felt like he'd been asleep for more than 5 minutes before he felt frantic shaking on his body. 

"Jean!!! Jean, wake up!!" Armin's voice was shrill and worrisome as he shook his friend awake. "Jean you're crying." He said softer, holding his friends face. 

Jean awoke feeling the tears stripe his cheeks, making his skin look paler than it already was. (It's not like he had the time for tanning or anything.) His glasses had fallen into his lap, and his hand went up immediately to wipe away the wetness. "Oh. Shit. Sorry. Didn't mean to work you up, Ar'."

"No, no it's fine. I just... I worry." Armin began to wring his hands as Jean sat up, the emptying bleachers leaving them closer and closer to being alone. 

"You shouldn't. Otherwise that middle-school nickname will make a comeback. But... Thanks." Jean locked his fingers together and stretched his arms over his head. A small grunt escaped Jean's lips and Armin patted his back. 

"'Worry-wart Arlert' is what will be on my gravestone.” Jean and Armin both winced as he said the word, and Armin gave him an apologetic look before trying to smile lightheartedly. “There's no doubt about it. My destiny has been chosen for me." Jean couldn't help but laugh, and he stood up, hiking his arm under Armin's to drag him with, "Jean.... Are you sure you want to go to this party? What if you start to..." He trailed off, and squeezed the brunet's shoulder, turning him back to look at him. 

There was something "all-knowing" about the way Armin looked at him, and it made him uncomfortable, anxious, and sort of annoyed. Armin was a god damn know-it-all. It pissed Jean off, strictly because Armin was that guy; the guy that's always right. 

"Look, Armin, I'll be fine. It's the last party of the year, minus Grad party. It wouldn't feel right if I didn’t go." Jean scratched the back of his neck, as he taut his lip into the corner of his cheek.

Armin's voice became higher pitched with nervousness, "But Jean you really s-" Jean's voice quickly cut him off.

"Marco would've wanted me to go. I 'preciate you worryin' about me Ar', but I need to do this." 

Armin stopped and exhaled, furrowing his brows and pursing his lips a bit in worry. "Okay. Whatever you think is best, then. At least let me drive you though. I don't trust that rickety metal death trap that you call a motorcycle." 

"Deal. I'll pitch in for gas." 

***

It didn't take long for Jean to realize it didn't matter who was with him, he hated parties. It was full of drunken kids who seemed to require shoving tongues down each other's throats. 

Now, that isn't to say Jean didn't do that with Marco at a few parties, he did. But they tried to be discreet, and preferred to be by themselves. 

As Jean looked at his classmates, however, he felt disgusted as he poured himself a red solo cup of Budweiser. He sighed and worked his way outside. 

Thomas Wagner lived out on a farm in the middle of God damn nowhere. His family was head of a huge corn farming industry, and because of it, his parents weren't home about 90% of the time: And thus why the party was here.

A hand clapped on his shoulder, causing Jean to jump and beer to slosh out of the cup.  
"Hey Kirschstein, are you doing okay?"  
Jean sighed as he glanced at the huge sideburns that took over Thomas's face.  
"Fine, thanks. Good job at the game."  
"Jean you were snoring so loud I could hear you over the cheerleaders."  
Jean snorted lighting and relaxed the tension in his shoulders he was unaware of holding.  
"You're still not sleeping well are you?" The voice filled with concern so genuine it almost made Jean nauseous.  
"Not really."  
"You know, after my sister died... It wasn't easy on any of us. I mean... That was 8 years ago and I still see her face in my dreams. I miss her. And I miss Marco. I just... If you ever need to talk..." Jean’s voice cut him short.  
"Thanks. Seriously, thanks Thomas. But I think I'll be fine." Jean wanted Thomas to leave. He was hurting too much, and he knew Thomas was trying to lend a hand to him, and he appreciated that. Yet, Jean couldn't handle it. Thomas noticed the look in Jean's eyes. He recognized the pain ripple through his skin directly from his heart. Thomas had felt it many times before. So with a squeeze to his arm and a gentle pat to Jean's back, he left him on the porch. 

Jean sighed and looked up at the night time sky. It was clear out at the country-side. Light pollution was slim to none, and the moon was so bright it lit the unpaved street below. His fingertips traced at the splintering wood and he began to peel at it slowly.

"I told you you'd regret coming, Jean." Armin slithered up behind Jean and tucked himself under his empty arm. He was sober, but he was trying to be comforting. Jean growled low as Armin wiggled Jean into a reluctant hug. "Don't tell me you didn't need this because you do." 

Jean definitely hated that Armin knew everything. Yet he wasn't going to refuse a hug from the blonde, since he was craving human affection. He leaned down and pulled Armin in close, squeezing tightly as the cup pressed lightly into Armin's back. 

"Mika, Eren and the rest of the gang are hanging in the barn. Come hang with us. You shouldn't be alone." 

And without a word, Jean was being tugged into the barn with the old rusted truck. Everyone was splayed out on the bed, blankets underneath them. 

Eren was currently struggling with his shirt uplifted on one side. "Hey Ar' come help me unsnap my binder I can't breathe." 

"Eren you've been wearing this thing since 6am, you know better!!" The blond practically sprinted to help out his friend, and Eren sighed in relief as it unhooked. 

"Bless your angel soul, Ar'." Eren fiddled with the hearing aid in his left ear.

“Is something wrong?” Jean asked curiously.

Eren shook his head, and squeezed his eyes shut tightly. He pulled the hearing aid out, and slumped back. “It’s starting to shriek and get static-y.” Armin took the hearing aid into his palm and began to fiddle with it.

“Strange, the wires are in place. Frequency level maybe?” Armin wasn’t really talking to anyone else in the group, more of murmuring to himself as he fiddled with the piece.

“See this is why he’s still a virgin.” Eren said playfully, Armin darting his eyes up with a dagger glare, threatening to throw Eren’s hearing aid back at him. Eren held his hands up in defeat, laughing playfully. Armin smiled softly and rolled his eyes.

Jean looked and noticed most everyone he spent time with was sitting there. Sasha was giggling in the corner with her jock boyfriend, Connie, the half-French transfer student who somehow became the star kicker on the football team. Jean liked Connie fine, and had gotten fairly close to him over the course of two years. But he still felt strange when he saw him cuddling up to his best friend.

Mikasa was dozing off, her head dropping down onto Eren’s shoulder. Jean climbed onto the truck bed, and scooted closer to Ymir and Christa, who were bickering yet again. Most everyone else didn’t seem to mind. Too preoccupied in their own wants and desires, none of them really cared.

“Guys?” Eren’s voice cracked, and he cursed to himself under his breath. “I think it’s time we did that talk we were planning on.”

Christa’s voice chimed in after smacking Ymir’s shoulder. “Then you better wake Mikasa up. She was the one who came up with it.”

“What are you guys talking about?”

“Mika, Mika, Mika, it’s time to wake up sweetie-pea.” Eren began to nudge her.

“Guys, what’s going on?”

Their voices all seemed to grow louder, all barking over each other. Armin’s shrill voice finally broke through.

“ENOUGH!!!!” The eyes of the group shifted to his attention, and Armin slumped back in relief. “Jean, we need to talk. It’s been almost 6 months now, and we—,”

“This better not be—,”

“Jean, we need to help you heal. You keep isolating yourself, and it’s not healthy. We’re all worried about you.” Sasha’s voice was smooth, and liquid in Jean’s ears, seeping in slowly like honey.

Mikasa sat up, rubbing at her tired eyes. Makeup smeared, and she murmured a quiet curse under her breath as she removed her fake eyelashes. “Jean, you’re terrible at hiding how you feel. You can’t expect your life just to be over just because he’s gone. You got accepted into college, and you’re a smart guy. You shouldn’t waste it—,”

“And what, I should just forget?? Forget the love of my life? The only person who loved me for who I was and not because of—,”

“Jean, that’s not what we’re saying, now listen to me.” Christa’s voice pinged out, grabbing Jean’s shoulders to face towards the short blonde. “We have an idea. Just, it’s small, but it may help. Minus Armin, we all grew up together. We’ve known you since you were a toddler, and this place is always going to be our home. Marco is still here.”

The words made a shiver go down Jean’s spine, “What do you—,”

“The cemetery is so close to us.” Jean slumped back into the bed of the truck, relieved in solemn. “We promised we’d come back, every year to be with you as you continue to mourn this loss. We’d come here, go to the cemetery together, and talk memories, or new stories, and just about anything to make you heal.”

“We want our prankster back,” Connie said, placing a hand onto his back. “We want our friend.”

“It’s not as fun fighting with you if you pull the ‘my boyfriend died’ card.” It was then a light yelp came from Eren, Mikasa’s brows furrowed as her fist stayed balled tightly. Eren rubbed his shoulder with a pout.

“Don’t be such an ass, Eren,” Mikasa grumbled, eyes narrowed.

“When isn’t he an ass?” Jean snarked

“—said the one who has an ass for a face!” Armin shook his head at Eren’s pathetic excuse for a comeback.

“See! That’s more like our Jean.” Christa beamed, her black lipstick framing the white teeth. Ymir’s thumb wiped away stray lipstick from the corner of her mouth.

“So this is a promise?” Jean asked wearily. He noticed Armin looking worried as he continued fiddling with Eren’s earpiece, of which Eren was wiggling and waiting impatiently for.

“Yeah, from all of us: No matter what, Jean, we’re going to be by your side. We love you.” Sasha’s candied voice spoke, a smile gingerly swiping across her cheeks. Connie’s fingers entwined with hers.

“Guys,” Armin’s voice said shakily, his body tensing as he moved up onto his knees in the bed of the truck, “Something’s off. We need to get somewhere safe.”

“What?”

“Just listen to me this isn’t—,” It was then the ground began to tremble, long waves began to sweep over land, as if the barn and the truck had become an ocean. Sasha screeched as everyone steadied themselves. Loud rumbling and the sound of an engine came over head, lights flashing bright colors in greens and reds, before something struck the ground, causing backlash from the original waves in reverse, sending Armin out of the bed of the truck and safely onto a bale of hay. The horses in the barn were whinnying loudly, standing on their back legs before the land was still again.

“What in the hell was that?” Jean asked, jumping over the side of the bed, immediately going to assist Armin. Armin’s wrist was twisted, but not broken, and he stood with the help of his friend.

One by one the teenagers began to file out of the truck, everyone checking to see if they were okay. Armin handed Eren his somehow undamaged hearing aid. “The static stopped,” Eren said, as he adjusted it back properly.

“Should we call the police or?” Christa folded her arms across her chest, all of the sudden feeling cold. Ymir wrapped her arms around her.

“I’m going to check it out.” Ymir whispered into her ear.

“Oh fuck no you don’t.”

As the couple began to bicker, Jean slowly began to approach it, unaware of the following friends.

In simple terms, the crashed object looked to be a spaceship of some form. The initial egg shape had faded away as they grew closer, noticing each and every outer limb, making it look more and more like some sort of spider, or crab. One of the doors had been busted open from the crash, as stray wires and strobe lights illuminated the cornstalks in front of it. Without thinking, Jean grew closer, and closer, his hand brushing along the outer shell. He hissed and jerked his hand back, looking to see if the second of hot metal created a large burn. Luckily for him, it hadn’t. Jean poked his head through the door of the ship.

In a blink, he found his stomach being kicked, his face punched, and his back pinned to the outside of the ship, burning against the hot surface. A small, short, blonde creature, slightly blue in color with piercing crystal eyes and long pointed ears held him in a choke, emotionless, and deadly. Jean clawed at her hands, desperate to breathe.

“Officer 842 put him down.”

Without another moment, Jean had his feet on the ground, soon followed by a collapse to his knees. The previously referred to officer held up her weapon, which looked to be some sort of gun, flicking back and forth between the collapsed Jean, and the crowd of friends on the other side.

“842 lower your weapon.” From around the corner came a much more humanoid creature, tall, brunette feathery hair, and a surrounding collar of skin, which made it look like a frilled lizard, the creature continued to speak.

“842, you just attacked our reason for being here.”

“My apologies, Officer Hanji.” The petite officer stood at attention, eyes straight ahead.

 

Armin’s head peaked out, noticing the strange metal antennae coming from her headpiece, flickering each time she spoke. Armin didn’t realize then, that he was making full eye contact with the being, and pulled back, arm immediately wrapping around Mikasa’s.

“What the hell?” Jean coughed, his hand moving to cup and massage his throat.

“My apologizes, Jean Kirchstein. 842 was only meaning to protect her ship and follow orders. It’s not customary for our peoples to invade another’s ship without intent to overtake it. However, it is a great honor to meet you, do you mind if I look at the wounds?” The voice of the collared creature peaked with interest, hands wiggling at its sides.

“I-,” Jean coughed and shrunk away, curling into a protective ball.

“My apologies again, I should probably inform you of who I am.”

“And what you are!” Connie shouted from a small distance.

“I am Hanji. I am an Incosultudact from a small planet in the Tadpole Galaxy. Our species is also commonly referred to as Dacitis. Officer 842 is a Verrereck, the subspecies of our planet which can survive in the colder terrains. But that’s beside the point, and way too much information right now, we need your help.” The voice became frantic, obviously needing to explain more than Jean could handle.

“How much help can you need when you have creatures so strong?”

“We need your species’ energy; specifically, yours, and a creature of Marco Bodt.” Jean’s heart stopped. “Your species has rare adaptations that only you seem to have been able to harvest: Imagination, creativity, and between you and Marco, the strongest adaption of all, power.”

“Marco’s dead.” Jean croaked out, his tongue swelling in his throat.

“I am aware of that.” Hanji shifted, taking three small black containers from their coat. “I will explain these and how you will need to use them in a moment. First we need to explain why we need you, and what this power is.” Jean nodded, relieved his questions were being answered for him, rather than having to ask himself. “In 6 Terra-Lunar cycles, there will be an invasion. A species stronger than our people will come for energy from your planet, but specifically, a certain kind, stronger than all the rest. They’re planning on harvesting this power to manipulate and control the minds of every species in every galaxy across the ever expanding universe. Once they have this power, they have the ability to control the lives and deaths of us, and be able to populate their species to be the only one left.”

“Got it, so they want to destroy the universe, in other words,” Jean nodded, slowly, eyes wide and eyebrows furrowed in worry and distraught.

“Exactly, Jean. Now, this power is only as strong as it is on your planet. This energy is a source that keeps your planet relatively in orbit. But it’s at its strongest in you, and Marco Bodt.”

“What is it?”

“Romantic love, I believe.”

“How is love an energy source?” Jean moved to stand now, comfortable enough to breathe, finally. The alien stood tall, slightly rolling back and forth on their heels. It was apparent Hanji was eager to talk about this, which put Jean slightly at ease, yet he still could feel the tugging of nausea in his stomach as his throat burned.

“You understand how energy works correct?”

“As much as a C in Physics can account for,” he snorted to himself, realizing then the alien was staring confused at him, brows furrowed. “I’m sorry, yes, continue.”

“So you understand how energy cannot be destroyed.”

“Yes.”

“A person’s body has its own energy. Your… as you call it, “souls”, are nothing but energy built off of emotions. Everything you feel alters your energy, thus why people can be upset, or depressed, and feel slow, and tired, whereas people with happiness are filled with eagerness and excitement.”

“Okay, that makes sense but—,”

“I’m not done, Jean Kirchstein.” Their voice was stern, and it made Jean sink back onto his heels, relaxing a tad more. “Energy can be created, and is stronger when two people make it together.” Jean nodded wearily. “Love in any case is the strongest emotion a human can feel. It’s more than just mating desires, or familial bonds. The human species has grown to be the strongest of “lovers”. Yes, there is war, and hatred and anger, which are very strong, but fighting it with love is the only way you can ever defeat it.” Jean blinked, swallowing nervously as he continued to listen to their words. “Love is a kind of energy, because it builds so much power between people. Sure, you can’t run an engine off of it, yet, but the power it gives you as a people, and the world around you is astonishing!” It seemed Hanji was starting to get excited, voice becoming higher as they continued their talk. “Love makes an individual strong. But, it can also cloud judgment, and make people blind to what is really going on around them. Yet, when you’re through the fog, it’s the most powerful force there is.”

“I get that, but why do you need me?” His voice shook as he spoke, his hands trembling as he moved to cross his arms over his chest, squeezing the back of his arms tightly.

“Because the love you have for Marco is the strongest we’ve seen. It was so powerful, it kept his energy bound to who he was in the past, and bound to you. You keep seeing him, right? Late at night, you see him.” Jean’s eyes went wide, and he squeezed himself tighter. He felt a chill run down his spine, hairs standing on end. “I’ll take that as a yes. Energy doesn’t go away. It simply takes another form, and continues its way into the rest of the universal cycle. He has stopped it, for himself, however. Well, for you. Your adventure with him isn’t finished. It was cut short; you were cheated out of it, correct?” Jean nodded as he felt tears began to well in his eyes. “You’re not done yet. Neither is he. So much so that this irrefutable power has nixed the cycle of your world, and that’s exactly the sort of power we need. We need this love, this powerful strength and energy you both share, to help us with our mission. We can explain more to you later, but right now, I need to give you these,” The webbed hand opened to reveal three small black containers, with colorful sparkling putty on the inside. “This is what is going to give Marco back to you.” The creature said, pulling Jean’s hand to place the items in.

“What do—,”

“As your world has this strange burial process to mourn the dead, we had to alter our normal substance to handle your soil and chemicals in your ground. As difficult as this may be, you need to dig the soil down to three feet above his burial case,” The creature’s eyes were axinite as they glimmered, yet the rest of their face was stoic, and painless.

“His coffin?” Jean asked nervously, wanting to be confident in the task he was being given.

“Yes, that’s what I mean. You must pour these liquids onto the soil, and they must be in order.” Jean looked down at the three substances. One was aqua, pea green, and a soft champagne-pink. “We even wrote the numbers on the bottom of the cylinders just to be safe.” Jean quickly sighed in relief, and glanced at the bottom, noticing the roman numerals engraved on silver. Luckily Jean could count to three in roman numerals perfectly competently.

“But what exactly is it going to do?” Jean asked, realizing he never truly questioned what he was going to do.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Jean tilted his head, eyes growing wide, “We’re bringing Marco back to life.”

Jean froze. “H-He—,”

“We’re leaving you with Officers 842, 765, and 923.” It was then two more figures came through the broken space shuttle. A large bulky one, almost identical looking to the one who had attacked Jean, and a long, lean, spindle that looked like Hanji. “They are here to protect you.”

“That tiny one attacked me, how is that protection??” Jean shrilled, and then he noticed the small alien turning to glare at him. It caused a cold chill to run down Jean’s spine, and he could feel the color fading from his face.

“She’s our strongest officer, I advise you to keep on her good side.” Hanji said, nodding their head in affirmation as to the words they spoke. “We must leave, and find somewhere else to be. We will find you again in half a lunar cycle’s time to make sure everything is going to plan. Please stay safe, and remember, your love is unlike anything else.”

And within an instant, Hanji was back on the ship, and though damaged, it still took off in flight, leaving 3 aliens, and 8 earthlings in the middle of a damaged corn crop.

“What. The. Actual. Fuck.” It was then the eyes of the group turned to glance at Ymir, who looked as though she had in fact saw an alien space ship, and was staring at 3 aliens in front of her. Unfortunately this couldn’t be a metaphor, as it was the truth.

“I-I guess we need to bring Marco back to life as soon as possible, 6 lunar cycles is only 6 months, and we need to show them in two weeks,” Armin was paler than normal, and he could feel the ice at the ends of his fingers. “I guess we should defer colleges for a year? Since if we don’t, there won’t be a college for us to go to anyways…”

“What are we going to do with these three?” Jean stepped in front of them, referring back to them with his thumb. “I can’t just bring them home like, “Oh yeah Mom by the way Marco’s going to be alive again and here’s three aliens to help me.””

Armin lifted his hand as an offering, biting on his lower lip, “I-I could take them, Grandpa’s out of town until the night before graduation.” His eyes were still on 842, unmeaning to, he glanced her up and down a few times, which didn’t fly past anyone’s eyes.

“So Armin has the hots for the alien, great so they’re taken care of—,”

“Hey!” Armin’s voice interjected Jean’s words, shrill and embarrassed.

“As I was saying, how are we to manage this?”

Mikasa bit her lip before she began to speak, fiddling with the ends of her scarf, a comfort tool she used when trying to think. “Marco can stay with me and Eren. Our parents haven’t been home in months, and with how your mom pries, it’s probably not the best idea to leave your not- dead kind-of-dead boyfriend in your room.” Jean nodded in agreement.

“And right now I guess we just have to deal with school until we graduate, and have all the free time we need to worry about this.”

“We should go and resurrect the subject tonight,” The small alien said, causing everyone to jump and turn. “Return in the morning to fetch him, and then you can go about your days. 765, 923 and I will bring him up to speed on what is happening. I also should apologize to you, Jean Kirchstein for attacking you. I was only intending to do my job, which is to protect the ship. I didn’t intend to hurt you.”

Jean nodded, “Apology accepted. Right now, guys, we need to go before anyone sees this.”

“Oh they didn’t.” The long and lean alien spoke nervously, his skin shiny, and damp looking. “We put a sleeping powder over them; leaving it so only you would come and find us. They’re fine.”

“Oh. Great. So no one saw this.” Ymir said, voice filled with faux excitement. “We find out aliens exist and nobody sees, wonderful.”

“Shut up Ymir, oh my god. Now isn’t the time for this.” Christa barked, growling low as she rolled her eyes.

“We should get going now.” 842 said. And it was with that, they began to dart off to their cars, Jean following Armin, and the three new acquaintances following behind.

“Hey Armin,” Jean said softly, pressing his hand onto Armin’s shoulder.

“Yeah, Jean?” His voice was timid, and soft.

“I told you Marco wanted me to come tonight.” And with an excited smile on Jean’s face, Armin felt himself begin to laugh. The blond playfully punched Jean’s shoulder, and Jean pulled him into an ecstatic hug.

***

“Now why is it that you have 10 shovels in your truck, Armin?” Mikasa asked wearily as she helped hand them out to the gang, side-eyeing him with a curious grin.

“Grandpa and I did a landscaping project for the neighbor and we hired some of those laborers off the side of the road and we bought a lot of shovels to do it. They’ve been sitting in my truck ever since.” He shrugged, and sighed, running his hand back through his hair. “I haven’t been able to clean out the tool shed to put them in there.”

Armin was well known for the incredible eye contact he made when he spoke to someone. Armin almost always spoke directly to the person, and it was something the rest of the group found endearing and light-heartening. Yet Mikasa of course noticed that his attention was focused somewhere else; his eyes were on the blue tinted girl with elf-like ears and blue dragon-like scales on the strong contours of her face.

“Jean was right, you really do have the hots for the alien.” She breathily laughed, covering her mouth with her scarf.

“I do not!!!!” Armin chirped, causing Eren to look back at them, where Armin nervously shot him a thumbs up, and turned his eyes back to Mikasa. “Did you not notice the head pieces they’re wearing? There is something weird with that, as it isn’t like a Bluetooth. It’s something else. I… I’m curious.”

“You think she’s pretty though,” she offered.

“I’m not blind.”

Mikasa began to laugh, and accepted his assisting her down off the truck bed, handing her a shovel after her feet were planted.

As they got to the rest of the group Jean was sitting by the side of Marco’s gravestone, fingers brushing along the text “Forever and Always.” Jean could feel a silly smile come back to his face, his heart fluttering in excitement. Somehow, someway, his Marco was coming back to him.

“Well this eliminates this whole healing talk we had earlier, doesn’t it?” Eren said, laughing as he tossed another shovelhead full of dirt over his shoulder. “I mean, he’s coming back, so?”

“I guess?” Jean said, shrugging his shoulders. Jean felt the eyes of one of their intergalactic guests look over him. The “beef cake”, as Christa had already referred to him as, 765, had been eyeing Jean over for a good five minutes. “Can I help you?” Jean asked wearily as his fingers brushed over the containers in his palms. They were so small.

“My apologies, sir,” the word had made Jean cringe, “I’ve just never seen a human before. You all vary in appearance so much. It’s strange.”

“Thanks, I guess?” Jean shrugged, before leaning back again. Finally, 842 called out to them, putting the shovel on solid ground.

“This is it, we’re deep enough.”

“That’s what she said,” Connie whispered into Sasha’s ear, causing a giggle to arise from her. Jean shot them a look, and they sunk back into their heels.

“Jean, you need to follow the order.” 842 spoke urgently, as if there was some place else she needed to be.

“Can you explain to me how this works? Or show me?” Jean said wearily, and Armin scooted over to him, jumping up next to him. Armin held the pink container which was to be used first. Jean put the others down, and offered his hand out to Armin, who placed it back in his hand.

“You need to be the one to release the liquids. I’ll explain it to you after, but everyone needs to get out of this pit, and Jean, please step in.” As everyone scrambled, slid, and flung themselves out of the hole, Jean slipped down in, his hands trembling.

“Go ahead, open it. You may be afraid at first, but let it do its job.” Jean shot her a look, eyes wide and afraid; as if he were a child, staring at the dark figure outside the door.

“For Marco,” he whispered to himself, and he opened the black container. He poured the pink liquid, which flowed like putty onto the ground. Quickly, it began to steam as the natural glittering properties began to really shine. Armin brimmed his hand over his eyes, as everyone else turned away, terrified, and shaking. Jean stood as the pink fog began to swirl around him, letting the satin ribbons trace over his skin, and his hands, before it swirled back down into the ground, leaving only a pink tinted shine on the layer of soil, strongest in the center.

“Now the second one.” The petite blonde confirmed as Jean’s eyes looked for her approval. The aquamarine liquid seemed much more fragile, and airy than the pink. He poured it into the soil, and it filled the ground around him, bursts of the bright color springing from the ground like fire, pulling at his hands until he was on his knees, and the color began to burst through him. It was warm as it flared through his skin, and a part of him felt empty as it fell back out, and it dissipated to the outer ring of box they dug. The color flickered into a dim glow.

Without needing confirmation, he poured the lime plasma into the dirt, and Jean winced, waiting for something. Anything. Yet, Jean quickly saw, it wasn’t like the others. It hardened on top of the rest, slightly luminescent. It looked like there had been a galaxy on top of breaking sunset. Jean had his hands on the solid material, and he felt the air grow cold again, surging through him before a sudden flare of warmth filled his heart. The words “Forever and Always” were engraved into his mind, and he felt a smile grow on his lips.

“Welcome back, Marco. I’ll see you in the morning.”

***

 

On the drive home, Armin wrung the steering wheel in his palms. He had just dropped Jean off, and he was glancing at his three guests in his backseat. Armin wasn’t always the best at communicating with new people, as he found them intimidating most of the time. He made eye contact however, with the petite creature in the middle in the rear view mirror, and had to speak. “I-...Do you have names? I-I mean, of course you have names, it would only make sense if you had names but would it be okay for us to refer to you by them or would you prefer we call you-,” 

She had cut him off with a hand in the air, drawing Armin’s attention back to the road and his mouth shut, silent, and he shifted uncomfortably. “Since we will be sharing living quarters for quite some time, I think it would be fair for us to share our given family names. Mind you, we don’t use them very often due to our positions as ship warriors, and therefore we may not always respond.” Her voice felt stale, as if she had been able to rehearse this until it became second nature. “Luckily, our families had given us human names, and therefore you’re lucky in comparison to most other people who are forced to work with us. I am called Annie. 765 is Reiner, and 923 is Bertholdt.”

Armin sunk back into his seat, more relaxed than before. He laughed softly to himself, “Funny. My mother was named Annie.” He stopped smiling and pulled into the driveway. 

“We have one guest bedroom, and a very tiny guest house in the back. I’m not sure if that will be a problem, but I don’t mind giving up my bed to one of you if you need it. I fall asleep on the couch plenty of nights, or-,”

Once again, Armin’s words were cut off by Annie’s, and he placed his hand into his pockets as she spoke. “Bertholdt and Reiner are able to share living space, and are willing to be in the back. I’ll stay in the front house with you, if that won’t disturb you.”

Armin smiled, as his chest felt lighter already, somewhat excited by his new home companions. “That would be swell.” He noticed a twitch in Annie’s headpiece, and he couldn’t stop staring at the silver metal band that brushed at the front of her temporal lobe. “A-Anyways, it’s been a long night, and we will need rest, as we need to wake up early to get Marco, and then I have to figure out where to put you folks for the school day. I-I’ll show you to your rooms.”

It seemed strangely normal for Armin. He had collected extra blankets, and began leading them to their places. As he set up Annie’s room for her, her eyes watching over his movements in a calculating manner, Armin felt strangely homey. “So,” she spoke, moving to sit on the bed, eyes glancing up to meet his. “I’ve realized you didn’t introduce yourself. What should I call you?” Armin felt his face and ears turn bright red, which he noticed made Annie shuffle back slightly. 

“Oh my god, I’m sorry, this is so embarrassing. My name is Armin.” He covered his face with his hands and groaned. “I’m just a bit shaken up is all, I didn’t mean to be rude or anything like that.”

Annie’s lip quirked for a moment, looking as if she was going to grin, but it quickly faded back to her deadpan look. “Don’t fret. A lot has happened today. As you said, we need rest.” Her hand moved to unzip her vest, revealing a bright electric blue band across her collars, dipping to go down her sides. Armin noticed this for a second before darting out of the room. 

“Goodnight!” He called out to her, and her own voice called back the same. It was going to be a long long 6 months. Yet the idea of adventure prickled at Armin’s veins. And on the other side of town, he knew Jean, currently giddy and dancing in his room with joy at the thought of his love being returned to him, felt the same.


	2. Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You learn a lot by someone just by looking in their eyes. Just, don't look away.

_Blue eyes._ That’s all he could see with how close Annie was, straddled over his just barely woken body. 

“Armin, now’s the time. We should go.” 

Armin’s brain was still fuzzed at the edges with sleep, yet his eyes could register her skin, a blue-grey, with dragon, or, more like fish scales on the contours of her cheekbones, tracing under her ear and jawline. As he began to wake up further, he started to take in her features, little by little. Her lips were a soft aqua color, looking smooth, like sea-lion skin. Up close, Armin could see flecks of blue sprinkled across her neck, dipping down to her collarbones. Which, he noticed were like a strip of ocean current that started down her sternum, creating a heart shape over the top of her breasts, which were barely covered by a piece of elastic-y fabric. He noticed the line continue down her sides, contouring her obliques that same blue. Armin’s eyes immediately shot back up to her eyes, and he noticed her strong Roman nose, and she tucked her hair behind her ear, revealing a small chip, or nip out of her left ear. “Well?” She asked, more persistently, sitting up. As she sat back, Armin saw just how long her eyelashes were, and white in color. The pajama bottoms she wore, he noticed were his own, green plaid flannel, and he felt his face burn more as he noticed. She pulled back again when she noticed his face turn red. “I’m sorry, should I not have placed these on? It was cool in the room you let me sleep in.”

“No, it’s fine. I-I just didn’t… It’s fine. I’m awake, let’s go.” Armin felt his body shiver as she got off of his lap, thankfully for Armin’s sake. She stood by the door, waiting for him. “I-I’ll be out in a moment or two, I need to dress.”

“Is it not customary to be bare-skinned?” She asked curiously, the color of blue line across her skin began shifting to a darker, royal blue, before her body stiffened again, the color of her body resetting, and a light on her headpiece flashing. “Sorry, this isn’t the time to ask these questions. Please, dress quickly.” She spoke, and darted out of Armin’s room. 

Armin sunk into his seat again, glancing underneath the blanket with a groan. “Okay Armin, you do have the hots for the alien.” He sighed, and pushed his hair back. He threw back the blanket, and stood to close the door Annie had left wide open. He grabbed his phone off of his nightstand, pressing the phone to his ear, as he fumbled through his dresser drawers.

“Is it time?!” Came the voice on the other end, eager, and excited. Armin hadn’t expected the loud outburst, and pulled the phone back from his ear as he stumbled into his pants. 

“Yeah, Jean. Since you left your bike at the school I’ll come pick you up in ten, alright?”

“I’m ready!” Jean’s voice was so eager and childlike, it made Armin relax as he hung up the phone. He ran his fingers through his hair again and sighed. Armin was absolutely thrilled that one of his closest friends was getting the love of his life back. But, Armin as normal, couldn’t help but feel slightly suspicious, as if there was some underlying motive, or possibly some crucial details that their new alien visitors had forgotten to mention. 

Armin’s mind traveled back to the headpiece Annie wore, remembering how when she became curious, and her color began to change ever so slightly, it jumped back with bright flashing from the metal contraption. 

The headgear was shaped like a Sailor Moon tiara, but of white metal with a gloss of ivory, and an antenna that stood out of the left side right behind her ear. It wasn’t incredibly tall, or thick, but the tip flashed color when she spoke, and it piqued his curiosity. 

Armin took a deep breath as he headed to his door. He had no clue what to do about his alien guests. Maybe he should skip today? Go and get Marco, but come home and try to give his guests something to do while he finished school? He hadn’t missed a day in his life, so ditching one time now at the end wouldn’t be detrimental. It only made sense to not leave three strangers in his home.

Heading out the door, Armin couldn’t help but go wide-eyed as he saw three, practically naked extra-terrestrial beings in his living room. “Okay, um… Alright, I uh….This wasn’t what I was expecting.” It was now Armin noticed that Reiner also had the same markings as Annie. He was built more sturdy, and he found Christa’s “Beefcake” nickname fit well. But as he looked at Bertholdt, he found his dilophosaurus neck frill was very thick, and looked fairly damp as it laid flat against the shape of his neck. 

Armin could easily see the green spiky tips that faded down into a very strange decaying flesh-tone. The pink veins were bright across the flaps of skin, and branched out in almost thousands of little passageways. Bertholdt’s face was fairly reptilian as well, his nose and jaw brought slightly more forward and out like an iguana’s. The brown hair on the top of his head was feathery, and had a strange green undertone. His musculature was fairly identical to Armin’s; Bertholdt was scrawnier than Armin, surprisingly. His skin bunched in certain places, under his armpits, and the insides of the elbows. Armin found himself curious as to how his neck would look flared out. He was curious about everything, currently.

Armin shook his head as his eyes fell back into place. He turned away, and groaned into his hands. Annie immediately noticed the discomfort. “I’m guessing nudity is shameful on your planet?”

“Not entirely shameful, but it’s seen as something sensual, and private.” Armin spoke shakily. He turned back to face them, and cat-blinked, trying to bring his focus back to his guests’ faces. 

“We’re about to dress, but if the nudity continues to cause you unbearable distress we will continue to wear our uniforms.” Annie spoke, her voice dipping into a tone of slight concern, but it was quick to change back to her monotonous speech. “We don’t intend to make you uncomfortable, we are here on a very important mission and we need your help. Anything we can do to make this easier for you, the better.”

“Well, we’re just going to have to buy you what we humans call pajamas. B-But Jean is ready, so if we could get going so they can get to school on time, that would be great. I’ll be staying with you three so I can possibly help you to understand and keep you busy with life here on Earth, since it seems you will be staying with us for a while.”

“Yes, it does seem that way, doesn’t it?” Bertholdt said as he glanced out the window, eyeing the Japanese Maple Tree that decorated the corner with red leaves. “Thank you, Armin, we very much appreciate it. We will go change, and don’t worry, we have ways to make ourselves look less alien, I can see the look on your face, and it seems to be filled with worry.”

Armin sighed. “Worry-wart Arlert,” he murmured under his breath. Annie tilted her head in curiosity. Armin noticed this and looked up at her, trying to keep his eyes glued on hers, rather than the beautiful body that was on display.

“What was that?” She asked. “Worry-wart Arlert?” She gnawed on her lip, her white teeth shimmering by the light of the kitchen. “That sounds…” 

“Have you never heard of a nickname?” He asked, and he found her shaking her head. 

“No, it wasn’t that, it was the way the words sounded together. They fit together… It’s outlandish, for certain. It’s… comforting almost.”

“Rhyme?” Her eyes lighted up as he said this word. “Is there no rhyme where you’re from? Surely you’d have experienced it due to language?” Reiner shook his head, and drew Armin’s attention over to him. 

“Our planet doesn’t have creativity. We don’t have literature as you know it. We have only historical documents, and science. We do not have the capacity to create as you humans do, which is another reason why we’re here. We need your capabilities in creation to help us in defeating the enemy. Our strategies are all through statistics, and probability. But the species we’re fighting, has creativity like you do. We need some of your brainpower to help us.”

Armin nodded as he listened to Reiner talk. He glanced over at Annie, who was obviously in thought, as if she was still trying to wrap her mind around the rhyme he had made earlier. 

Armin had a feeling something wasn’t being said, but he kept to himself, and hurried them off to get clothed.

 

As they arrived at Jean’s house, Jean was busy preparing himself. He wanted to look as best as possible for Marco. He stopped to admire his face in the mirror again, and he found bags under his eyes. It was true that Jean hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep in months. He sighed, and felt his heart rate sink back down in his chest, before remembering Marco was coming back to him. He felt his smile grow on his face, and without even a goodbye to his mother, he sprinted out the door and into Armin’s truck. “Hey Armin,” Jean said with a shaky nervousness. His hands were jittering as was his left knee, and Armin couldn’t help but smile at his friend’s excitement. “Do I seem nervous?” He asked, causing Armin to reach over to press his palm down on Jean’s left knee to keep from jittering as they waited at the stoplight. 

“Is that a good enough answer for you?” Armin asked in retort, cocking a brow as he squeezed his knee. “Relax, Jean. We’re almost there.”

“I’m sorry, I just… He’s coming back to me. I’ll have my Marco again. Can you imagine? Just, being without someone you love for so long, and being able to be with them again; Armin I’m…” Jean started to trail before he remembered, “Oh my god, I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t be.” Armin turned to smile at him, warm, but his eyes were still pained. “I’m happy for you, Jean. You deserve this.” 

Annie looked at Armin, and over to Jean before darting back, “I don’t mean to pry, but what exactly is Jean trying to apologize for?” Armin glanced up into the rearview mirror to look at Annie, and then his eyes turned back to the road. Armin couldn’t help but find her appearance to be interesting. As the suit they wore had the capabilities to produce a holographic display of peach skin color, yet they wore thin when it came to the contours of her cheeks, and pointy ears. It made him smile, as she looked a bit fairy-like. As did Reiner, of course, but his build made him look like the bouncer of Fairyland. Bertholdt still looked similar to before, but his bunchy skin was no longer green. It still was uncomfortable to look at for a long period of time, however. He took a hand off the wheel to rummage his fingers through his hair.

“My parents died in an unexplained accident about ten years ago. Jean’s apologizing because he thinks his excitement about getting Marco back from the dead is making me upset. Which, it’s not. I’m very happy for Jean.” Annie nodded in understanding, but noticed Jean placing his hand on Armin’s shoulder for what looked to be comfort. They smiled at each other, and Armin elbowed Jean playfully. “You do realize Jean you have to attend classes today.”

“Mikasa already gave me the spiel. You, Jaeger, and Mika get to ditch, but I, have to attend classes with Ymir, Christa, Sash and Con, because if I don’t, they’ll know something’s up.” 

“Mika and Eren live together, so it would make sense for them both to ‘get sick’, and since I’m like, Eren’s babysitter the half of the time Mika’s not doing it, of course I would get sick too. If you didn’t show up they’d immediately think there was some nasty prank about to go down on the school.” Jean groaned, and made a playful childish whimper. “Also if you were left with Marco we wouldn’t be able to get any work done.” Jean felt his cheeks burn a little, and Armin smiled knowingly. “See? You’re even flushed just thinking about it.”

Finally, it was the last turn into the cemetery, and Armin parked his truck behind the grey geotracker. Ah yes, Ymir’s gay ass car. The car that always rattled as she drove, and jerked badly every time she changed gears. “No, it’s fine I love my little cube of death,” she would say, followed by a whine from Christa saying her stupid car was making her sick. Said Christa was toppling out of the car, gripping the door as she looked like she would hurl on the ground in front of her. 

The five in the white chevy also came wiggling out of the car. Jean was practically jumping up and down, looking over to see Mikasa and Eren pull up in their old silver Infiniti G20. Eren fiddled with his hearing aid as he stretched his other arm over his head. Apparently 6:30am was a bit early for most people, and Armin sighed knowingly. His friends had a track record of waking up past noon most days, and the way Ymir rubbed at her temples, he was instantly reminded that most of his idiot friends, though sober through the celestials arrival, were probably still a tad hungover. 

“Where’s-,” and before Armin could finish, on a teeny moped came Connie and Sasha. With her brunette hair down, Sasha looked like she was 14, rather than 18. She was tired, and probably had been asleep on Connie’s back as they drove their way there. Connie looked just as exhausted, but there was some sort of nervousness in his face that kept his shoulders tense. Armin tried to soothe Connie’s nerves, but between the two it only made it worse. Connie and Armin both continued to wring their hands, biting their lips as they looked on at the scene in front of them.

It didn’t take more than a moment to run over to Marco’s grave. Jean looked worrisome, until he saw sitting in the three foot hole, a curled up Marco-ball, in the suit he was buried in. The clothes were slightly-tattered, as the cotton undershirt had already begun falling apart, whereas the rest of the nylon polyester jacket and trousers were still in tact. “Marco??” Jean called out, and Marco’s eyes fluttered open. His skin was as perfect as it was before he was buried, and it looked as though he hadn’t been decomposing at all. There was a tiny scar on his forehead that trailed to the bridge of his nose on the left side. It was thin, and it had been where Marco’s head had hit the wheel in the crash. Jean felt his heart clench. 

Marco smiled up at Jean, and stood. It seemed he was having a little trouble gaining the ability to talk again, eyes frustrated with himself and his inability, but Jean didn’t seem to care, with garbled voices warning Jean not to just dive in, he ignored them, and pulled Marco into a hug. Marco pulled him in tightly, and croaked out in a soft whisper, “Forever and always, right Jean?” 

The warmth of Marco’s body and thrumming of the heart in his chest against Jean’s set the world back into motion. As if he had been living a nightmare, Jean fell to his knees with Marco in his arms, and cried into his neck, his hands gripping at the jacket on Marco’s back, and chills ran across Jean’s skin. Marco’s honey voice spoke softly against Jean’s ear. “Shh, Jean, baby, stop crying, please? I’m here. I’m here now. I told you I wasn’t going anywhere.” These words only made Jean cry harder and pull him in closer, hiccuping sobs escaping the poor boy’s lips. 

As everyone stood, tears in eyes as they watched their friend reemerge from beyond, the world stopped for all of them. In that moment, seeing their best friend emerge from beyond the grave, the warmth that hit each and every person. For a moment, for just a split second, that energy, that love, hit every one of the twelve. 

Armin reluctantly broke the silence, swallowing the swelling lump in his throat. Wiping tears from his eyes as he spoke, Armin felt the crack in his voice. “We should get going, Marco, you’ll be with Eren and Mikasa. We’ll get together tonight, okay? Dinner at my place, and Mika, you’ll catch Marco up on everything, okay?”

Eren yelped a “What about me?” as everyone began to scurry back to their respective vehicles. Mikasa had her fingers reaching for Eren’s hand. Not that he’d notice, of course. Annie’s eyes noticed the movement, and she tilted her head, squinting to see Mikasa retract her hand.

Jean looked up at Marco, and then to Armin. He nodded in understanding, but pulled Marco in tighter, inhaling slowly. “I still have to go to class. I really don’t want to go, I just… I missed you so much.”

“I know, sweetheart. But I’m here now. I’m not going anywhere, you hear me?” With mutual nods, and a quick peck on the cheeks, they broke, and pulled themselves out of the hole.

Armin and Connie immediately rushed in to pull them out, helping each other brush the dirt off their clothes. Jean’s hand dragged down Marco’s cheek before tapping the end of his nose with his knuckle lightly. “I love you,” was whispered into Marco’s ear, and Jean watched as the smile pulled at Marco’s cheek. 

With sorrowful goodbyes, and excited, ‘welcome back’ hugs, everyone split in their directions.

 

“So I think I understand the gist of it?” Marco said, pulling his knees into his chest as he scrunched his brows in confusion. “So, in short, Jean and I will save the planet based around this weird love energy thing? The three aliens are here to help harness it?”

“Basically,” Mikasa said, taking a deep breath before exhaling quickly. 

“What was it like to be dead?” Eren chirped in excitement. Mikasa’s punch to the arm made him yelp, and pout, but he turned back to Marco anyways. “I’m sorry. I’m just. Curious.”

“You know when you daydream, and you find yourself floating, out of your body, and looking down on the rest of the world? Imagine that, but colder. Like ice. Unable to come back.” Marco said, rubbing his knuckles over again. “There’s more to it, but for now, I think that gives you an idea.”

“Crystal clear.” Mikasa said. “We’re glad to have you back, Marco.”

“I’m glad to be back, Mika. I’m glad to have all of you back.”

“Jean, especially?” Eren asked, waggling his brows.

“Forever and always.”

 

School could not have been more boring, Jean thought to himself as he fiddled with his phone in his lap. He had it well hidden behind his backpack, as Mr. Ackerman taught the class. Jean truly would’ve been more willing to jump off a cliff at this point than listen to his teacher drone on and on about European History. 

Jean’s lips kept twitching as he thought about Marco, whom he knew was being told the whole spiel of what was going on by Mikasa and Eren. Jean felt grateful that if anyone was looking out for his darling, it was Mikasa. Eren… he could live without the worrying thoughts that he would bring him. 

**[Text]  
**

[From: Mikasa]  
Darling? I took Mika’s phone. How’s class going?  
 **[Text]  
**

[To: Mikasa]  
Boring. As always. So you’re all caught up now?  
 **[Text]  
**

[From: Mikasa]  
Completely. Jeez Louise. We kinda have a lot on our plate, don’t we?  
 **[Text]  
**

[To: Mikasa]  
Yeah. We do… and we still don’t know very much, do we?  
 **[Text]  
**

[From: Mikasa]  
I guess that’s the point of the dinner tonight at Armin’s. How do you think he’s handling the aliens?  
 **[Text]  
**

[To: Mikasa]  
Well, he did have the hots for the short one, so maybe he’s getting laid? Should we bring him a Congrats on the Sex cake?  
 **[Text]  
**

[From: Mikasa]  
After we get proof. But get back to class, okay? I love you Jeanbo.  
 **[Text]  
**

[To: Mikasa]  
Love you too, MarcoPolo.

 

Jean didn’t want to wait for classes to be over to go see Marco. 6 months apart believing it would be for the rest of eternity, only to have everything he knew and believed thrown back in his face? Jean was definitely going to skip gym last period. He needed to be with Marco. 

 

“That’s... not how you’re supposed to wear that.” Armin covered his mouth in disbelief as he stared at his companions. Armin had tried to take them to Target, get them some clothes to help them masquerade a bit. Unfortunately, the weird looks they were receiving from the other customers made Armin worry. “Don’t worry, it’s a costume!” He said to them as they eyed over the strange people. “We’re makeup artists and on our way to a set,” any excuse he could think of he told them, hoping to hurry the process up. Yet, as Reiner came out of the dressing room with a neon bra strapped over his burly chest _over the pink sweater with white clouds_ , Armin felt his heart sink into his stomach due to nervosa. He immediately started pushing him back into the dressing room. “You grabbed from the wrong pile, that was supposed to be something Annie should wear. Umm… Just, pull that stuff off, I’ll be right back.”

Armin scurried over to Bertholdt’s changing room, where he found the tuft of brown hair sticking out over the top of the door. “Are you doing alright in there?” Bertholdt opened the door, his face stuck in the turtleneck sweater. Armin sighed and grabbed on the upper chest of the grey cotton and tugged down, Bertholdt’s face popping out through the top. “Sit down let me make it so we can help hide the flap.”

“I greatly appreciate you helping us like this.” He said, lifting his head a bit so Armin could help fold the fabric of his sweater to mask the fleshy appendage. Two folds, and the frill was hidden well. 

“It’s no problem. We need to help you fit in with the surroundings around here. Your suits are too... _strange_ to get away with wearing around town. People may get suspicious.” Armin spoke nervously, his hands beginning to shake as he assisted Bertholdt in adjusting his sleeves. 

“No, we understand we do. Apparently it’s always been difficult to hide with your species.” Bertholdt’s hands began to wring themselves, right over left. Armin noticed the alien’s skin bunch up, and he could feel himself become slightly queasy. Armin’s stomach was definitely _not_ made of steel. 

“So you’ve been here before?”

“Not personally, but our species have been for certain. How else did you think you learned languages?” Armin’s eyes lit up. 

“Okay, you definitely need to tell me everything about tha-” 

“Hello? Um…” Armin recognized the voice. She was a cheerleader. Black hair parted down the middle in low pigtails, with piercing grey eyes; Armin knew her face and voice but he was blanking on her name. He knew it started with an ‘M,’ but other than that, he could not come up with her name. He held his hand up to Bertholdt, as if signalling him to stay, like he was a dog. He quickly slipped out of the dressing room, and caught her nametag. ‘Mina.’ Yup, that’s it. 

“Yes? Is something the matter?”

“Your...sis- no, girlfriend? Anyways, she’s stuck in something in the dressing room.” The way she stumbled over the words made Armin fluster. He sighed, internally rolling his eyes.

“I’m guessing she refused help… I...Take me to her.” His exasperation made Mina relax a bit, and she drug him over to the women's dressing room. Once near her tiny wooden chamber, Armin noticed Annie’s arms above the door. He found a laugh bubble in his stomach, and he slipped inside the room from under the door. “Sorry, Annie.” 

“Why are you apologizing? There’s nothing to be sorry for. If anything, I should be apologizing I’m caught in this vile contraption and forcing you to save me.” Armin snickered at this and went over to help. 

“It’s as though you and and Reiner have never had to deal with sleeves.” His hands tugged down on the shirt, watching as her head popped through like a gopher in a hole. He was just pleased to be covering her now pink-bra clad chest.

“We haven’t. These things are inconvenient.” His hands rolled the sleeves up enough to find her hand. Though her natural skin looked to be more like a sea-lion’s, it felt like a dolphin, slippery and rubbery. It took Armin by surprise, but he wasn’t off-put by it. “Our suits form to us, we don’t place it on ourselves. Thus, we can change shape size and figure and still be protected no matter our size. The fact that we had to guess on what size denim I had to wear is a terrifying thought. If I lost or gained weight, I’d have to guess again and change my entire wardrobe.” 

The thought ‘#EarthWorldProblems’ came into Armin’s head, and he had to hold down a laugh. 

“Yeah… We’re not the best at fashion, that’s for sure,” Armin said, rolling the sleeves back down her arms. 

“That’s not all your fault,” she murmured, before standing in front of the mirror. Armin cocked his head at her words, but ultimately ignored it for now. His hands continued to fuss with her shirt, unrolling the hem at the bottom and straightening her collar a bit. Annie tilted her head and moved accordingly, her face contorted in discomfort. “You’re a very kind human, Armin.”   
“Are humans not kind?” He asked. 

Annie’s eyes shot up to meet his, and she shook her head. “Well, I haven’t had much experience, but there is evidence to say otherwise from previous visits. My mother included.” 

“Your mother visited Earth?” He asked. Armin’s hands turned Annie towards the mirror as their eyes locked. Nodding to himself, he pulled out another shirt from the pile. 

“To make it brief, she came for research, became research, and somehow escaped back home.” The bluntness in her voice took Armin by surprise, but he could see she was sensitive to the subject. He held his tongue, and smiled solemnly. 

“I apologize.”

“Don’t. I was the one who brought it up. Now, do I look less alien?” She asked, her hands moving to tug at her collar. Her face scrunched up again. 

“You definitely look more human. But you look so uncomfortable.” He offered up a thinner cotton shirt. “This might be less irritating. I’m sorry about the heat of the clothing, I know that it’s a hotter climate right now, but it’s probably better to hide your arms. Humans don’t quite have the same markings as you do, even when you camouflage your skin to our colors.”

“Well, of course. We still carry our scales, and we have a really difficult time covering them. We also keep cool fairly easy, so you don’t have to worry about dehydration.” She lifted her shirt, revealing her colored obliques again. “These are one our many ways to store water and keep hydrated and cool. Bertholdt may have difficulties, but his frill can carry a good amount of water as well.” 

Armin glanced up into the mirror as she adjusted the shirt back onto her stomach. She was about 4 inches shorter than him. Her eyes were sharp and bright even at the distance between them and the mirror. But she found herself eyeing over his features, round, and gentle to the eye. 

“You’re a very interesting looking species,” Annie said, as she tore off the sweater. Armin had to tear his own eyes away from her body. 

“I could say the same to you.” Armin said as his eyes once again fell back onto the celestial body. “You have a dark color pallette” He said, as he sat on the bench as she continued to strip down. “Would you be willing to tell me a bit about your planet? I’m curious.” 

“Well, it’s an aquatic planet. Ninety-five percent water, five percent artificial land. The Dactis- I mean, Inconsultudact, but due to it’s incredible length, we’ve abbreviated it to Dactis, anyways, once they came to our planet they began building land. As you can tell they’re more reptilian, but they’re semi-aquatic and need to be around an abundance of water, even though they need sunshine. Through our education we don’t get taught much about their anatomy, so I’m not exactly sure why they need the water, but they came to our planet looking for it, so they found it.” 

“So they invaded your planet?” Armin asked sitting up a bit in his seat, hunching over onto his elbows resting on his knees. Annie’s face scrunched. He sat back. 

“Yes. From my knowledge it wasn’t an aggressive invasion, but since they had used up their resources on their planet, we were nervous about letting them come into ours.” Armin nodded in understanding, but found it strange that she lacked this knowledge. 

“But your commander said you were a subspecies.” 

“Well, when the Dactis came, they brought their entire planet. And since we’re the less intelligent species, we became the subspecies.” 

“You seem quite intelligent to me.” Armin smiled sheepishly at her, and he could see a flicker of a yellow color flash through her body before the headpiece flashed, and brought her back to her neutral blue. 

“Thank you, Armin.” Annie’s voice was soft as she said this, and he could see the tiniest bit of emotion in her eyes. “I think we found a collection of clothing that will work for me.” Armin nodded his head slowly, folding one of the shirts next to him. 

“I think Reiner’s the only one still struggling.”

“As always.” 

Armin let out a harsh laugh before slapping his hand over his mouth. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be.” She nodded towards him as she reached down to her ankle, which was adorned with a golden band. Once her fingertips brushed against it, her suit formed up over her body, fabric stretching and melding together around her limbs. 

“That’s really incredible.” He said with wide eyes.

“Thank you.”

Once Armin and Annie fetched Reiner and Bertholdt from the changing rooms, they checked out of the store, bringing their plentiful bags of clothing to his truck. Armin could tell by the way Reiner and Bertholdt trotted to the car, he was in for a long, long year. 

 

Armin finished setting the table with Annie’s help, smiling as she watched him place the forks and knives down in order, and mimicked his motions. Once the table was finished, Asteria, his persian cat plopped up onto the table. Annie jumped back and her eyes went wide fishing for a weapon out of her suit. 

“No! Annie, don’t worry. This is my pet Asteria. She’s a cat. She’s safe, see?” Armin went and hoisted the cat, holding her in his arms like a baby. “Pet her. She’s soft.” Armin reached for her hand. 

She was hesitant, he could tell, but when she gave her hand to him, he pressed it to the fur of Asteria. “See, she’s a sweet cat.” She made a noise, and Annie froze again, before continuing to pet the stomach of the cat. “Asteria, this is Annie. She’s going to be staying with us for a while.” Annie was confused, and he could tell. “No, she most likely doesn’t understand what I’m saying, but she enjoys my voice.” And as he spoke, the cat began to purr. “She likes you.” And when Annie pulled her hand away, Armin placed the cat down on the floor, letting her rub up against her leg. “She really likes you. She’s pretty aloof.”

Annie’s color began to shift to yellow again, a smile pulling at the corner of her lips before her headpiece began to blink, and she was reverted back to blue. 

“Everyone will start showing up soon, and I ordered food. Now we play the waiting game… I mean, we just wait.” 

They sat together on the couch, as Mikasa, Eren and Marco in tote came in. Armin gave Marco a tight hug, before pecking Mikasa and Eren on the cheeks. 

“Looks like you guys are right at home,” Mikasa commented as she made her way to the couch, plopping next to Bertholdt and Reiner. 

“We got them some clothes, and introduced them to the cat. Very eventful day. Marco, how did you handle everything?”  
Marco was holding Asteria, who was pawing at his face. “I’m handling it okay. I feel… Weird. I think Astie here knows something’s up.” 

Armin nodded, and moved to the door when the bell rang. He opened to find Jean, Connie, and Sasha bursting through the door. Armin immediately jumped aside to let them in, turning everyone’s attention away from the kissing lovebirds Jean and Marco. Ymir and Christa were soon to come after, and Armin called them to the table.

Armin sat at the head of the table, with Ymir on the opposite. Eren carried in the food from the door, and Armin helped dish the plates. He made sure Annie, Bertholdt, and Reiner got the fish he had specially ordered, and let everyone else fend for themselves. 

“Thank you,” Annie said to him quietly, nodding towards him before she took a bite. He smiled at her, and nodded.

The group ate quietly, too tired to muster the energy to talk and eat. Once they finished, and Armin carried the plates off of the table with Annie in tote helping carry dishes and boxes into the kitchen. He looked out at the table, and spoke. “Okay folks, what’s the first thing we need to accomplish here to get ourselves on the track?” He asked, glancing at Annie before looking out at Bertholdt and Reiner. “What do we have to do?”

“We will start training with you soon. Don’t worry, it’s not physical training. It’s a mental capacity all of us have to meet. We’re looking to you nine to train us, too. It’s a mutual exchange. We teach you how to use the energy, and you teach us to create. Both are difficult, but we know it’s something you can handle.” Bertholdt said as he wiped his mouth with his napkin. Armin then noticed he had needlepoint teeth, and jumped a bit. 

“Are you alright, Armin?” Annie asked as she placed the plate into the dishwasher as told to from instruction.

He nodded, and placed another clean plate into the pile. 

“Jean, Marco, we have to start with you two first. Since there’s so much you two alone have to do, we should make sure you’re well beyond experts by the time the attack comes.” 

Jean nodded as he threaded his fingers with Marco’s on the table, and Armin noticed Annie glance at the motion, before going back to her work.   
“We’ll do whatever we have to. You brought Marco back to me. I owe you everything.” 

Armin noticed a little sneer on Bertholdt’s face and felt his stomach churn. Something wasn’t right. He just couldn’t put his finger on it. 

 

Everyone left quickly. Jean went with Mikasa, Eren, and Marco, leaving his bike at Armin’s place for a quick retrieval in the morning. Tomorrow would be Saturday, and Reiner and Bertholdt had plans to enlighten Marco and Jean on the abouts of their tasks. 

Armin lied in bed that night, eyes up at the ceiling as he listened to ‘Schrodinger's Cat,” by The Ghost of the Saber Tooth Tiger. He wasn’t going to catch much shut eye that night. He made sure to keep his cat in his room that night. 

Something was much more deceitful in the air. 

He just hadn’t a clue what.


End file.
